Video captures group jump into action to help after fiery crash that killed 4 in California
MANTECA -- Four people are dead, including an infant, and three children are in the hospital with major injuries after a crash on Highway 120 in the Central California city of Manteca Saturday night, the CHP said.
Officers responded to the area of Van Ryn Avenue between Industrial Park Drive and Atherton Drive around 10:15 p.m. Saturday to investigate a crash where a vehicle traveling on Highway 120 left the road and caught on fire.
During the investigation, officers said a 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan was traveling west on Highway 120, west of Highway 99, at about 60 to 65 mph. They said the road was damp due to rainy weather.
Officers said the driver of the Toyota lost control for unknown reasons and struck the center median before entering the dirt and grass on the median that separates the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 120.
The Toyota then continued west in the median before becoming airborne, traversing the Van Ryn Avenue undercrossing. The minivan then struck the overpass, overturned and caught on fire.
Officers said there were seven people in the minivan.
Good Samaritans jump into action
People in the area pulled four children, including the infant, out of the vehicle. Officers said the children's ages ranged from ages 6 to 14.
"I thought it was a grassfire but when we shine the lights on them from his truck we see people and then my husband runs out and within 29 seconds he has a baby," said Gina Rosamond who was one of the good Samaritans who jumped in to help.
She was rolling on her cellphone video and captured her husband carrying the infant out of the burning car that was flipped over. That is when she jumped out to try and give the baby CPR.
"We tried to get another person out, I remember seeing an arm in the window," said Joseph Rosamond, who was one of the at least 15 people who flipped the engulfed car over.
A 6-year-old girl was taken to the hospital with major injuries. A 14-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy were also transported to the hospital with major injuries.
The driver and three other passengers, including the infant boy, died. The CHP said the driver was a man and one passenger was a woman. The last victim was a juvenile boy, the CHP said.
"All I could hear when I was in there was two females, one younger female screaming and another one incoherently saying, 'Wait, wait, I'm here,'" said Christian Aceves who lives feet from the fiery crash.
Christian's sister, Monica, was the first one on the scene and he was right behind her, flagging down any car they could to help.
Monica said one of the people who stopped had a fire extinguisher in their car and that helped slow the spread of the fire.
"We didn't even stop to think of ourselves, we just knew we had to do what we could," Monica said.
The group of good Samaritans who jumped into action to help included high schoolers in their tuxes and dresses who were heading home from prom. They successfully flipped the engulfed minivan over by working together.
According to the press release, the woman was not using a seat belt, but the driver and boy were. The release doesn't mention if the four other occupants were using a seat belt.
"You got to focus on the positive," Joseph said. "There were three that survived and they would not have survived had not everyone jumped into action when they did."
The identification of the victims has been released at this time and the crash remains under investigation.
